Let's Talk Motherhood - On Raising Confident Children - Life as Mrs. Wilson

19 June, 2017

Let's Talk Motherhood - On Raising Confident Children



I am so excited to be sharing the Let's Talk Motherhood series with you all for the first time! I've teamed up with some amazing moms to share in a conversation on a particular topic from each of our perspectives. They have answered the following questions on their own websites, and all of their perspectives are linked at the end of this post. I created this interview collaboration series to connect, encourage, share, and relate with other moms. No matter how different our perspectives may be, we're all in this amazing and challenging journey of motherhood together.

On Raising Confident Children:


1. What is one way you are teaching your children self confidence?
One way I've been trying to teach Conrad self confidence is by letting him fail sometimes. When he was first learning to crawl, all I wanted to do was pick him up and hold him any time he got frustrated. I caught myself wanting to do all the work for him, so I had to force myself to just take a step back, cheer him on, and let him fall a few times. It was amazing to watch him learn and grow in confidence and to see that huge smile of accomplishment when he finally figured it out. I think that by being patient and not helping him every second of the learning process, he has learned to trust himself and build the stepping stones of confidence that will help him throughout his life.

2. How do you (or how will you) help your children find their passions in life?
I love how my parents approached this with me, so I plan on taking a similar approach with my own children. When I was younger, my parents gave me a list of extra curricular activities to choose from each year and let me try something new or continue the same activity. This allowed me to explore many things and ultimately led me to my passion for music and volleyball. They also encouraged me a lot in academics, which led me to my passion for writing. I hope to give my children the same opportunities and always encourage them to try new things and to be fearless in doing so.

3. Do you have an opinion on how social media affects self confidence? How do you (or how will you) navigate this with your children?
I definitely think that social media can affect self confidence if we aren't being vigilant in our actions. We are ultimately the deciders in what we choose to view online, so it is up to us to follow people that are positive and to view things that uplift us and build us up rather than make us feel bad about ourselves or 'less than'. As for navigating this with children, my husband and I have talked quite a bit about keeping our children away from social media as long as we can, but are still unsure where to draw that line. For the time being, I think my most important job in this regard is to do everything I can do instill confidence in my children before they have access to social media in hopes that they will believe in themselves and know their worth - and to never base their worth off of anything from social media.

4. What are you currently doing to gain confidence in yourself?
It has always been a battle for me to feel confident in myself. I shared a bit about my journey to self love a while back (you can read that here), and that has helped me so much in gaining emotional confidence, so now I am currently working harder on getting stronger and healthier physically. After having Conrad, I just didn't feel good about how I looked, so I hid. I was so worried about people judging me that I skipped out on a lot of events I really wanted to attend, quit talking to people, and kept my head down as I walked. I knew that if I wanted to accomplish the things I desired in my life and serve others the way I wanted to, I needed to take care of myself. As I've been taking better care of my body and gaining physical strength, I've been able to worry less about myself and reach out to others more, and I am such a happier person because of it.

5. Any words of advice you would want to give to your children on being confident in themselves?
Recognize that you're not going to be perfect. You'll make mistakes, and sometimes you'll fail. But the more you can learn to accept and love yourself for who you are now rather than the idea of who you want to be, the more your life will be filled with joy. As you grow in confidence, you will be able to forget yourself and serve others - which will bring you the most joy and fulfillment possible. Remember to whom you belong, and pray to see yourself the way God does. Master your fears. Be brave. Be kind. Be humble. Know that you are loved, and go forth in confidence knowing these things.

Be sure to check out the rest of the perspectives linked below and feel free to share your thoughts on raising confident children in the comments as well!

Aurora McCausland (@auroramccausland) | Vanessa Falsetti (@josephineacreativelife) | Jenn (@whatyou_make_it) | Jess (@wildishjess)

2 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed reading this. It's such a big thing to consider when you've got a little human to raise!

    ReplyDelete
  2. All of this is gold, McKell. Letting your little fail, and find his own accomplishments is so huge, and so hard for some reason! I love that you want to let Conrad explore, but also build him up so that when he faces things that can shake his confidence, he is prepared. And your words to him just melt my heart. Conquering self and fears, and seeking God first and others second - this builds true, unfading confidence. Thanks for this!

    ReplyDelete